Martin Shaw, who appeared on Who Do You Think You Are?, talked earlier this
year about his life

The secret to a happy relationship is living apart, according to The Professionals actor Martin Shaw.

Shaw, who has been married three times, revealed he is still in close contact with his first wife Jill Allen, an actress and mother to his three children.

But he says he lives around 200 yards from his current partner, Karen Da Silva, a yoga teacher, and the pair “share both houses" in Norfolk.

The couple’s unconventional living arrangement is similar to the famous relationship of Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, who have been together for 13 years and live side by side in houses in London.

“My children are close to their mother, as am I,” Shaw told the Radio Times.

“The other two wives? A healthy completion. There’s no animosity but no need to keep in touch. Finished, done.”

The actor did not rule out marrying again.

Shaw is currently playing the lead in BBC drama Inspector George Gently, but has criticised the broadcaster for cutting budgets and prioritising young actors in a focus on younger viewers at the expense of older ones – a practice he describes as “idiocy.”

Shaw, a former alcoholic, said he drank a lot in his early days as a “working class actor” to try and fit in with the crowd and get a name for himself.

He has been teetotal and vegetarian for 42 years after adopting the Indian faith Sant Mat.

He added: “I drank prodigious amounts – half a bottle of Scotch, two bottles of wine, and odds and sods every day. I shudder to think how stupid I was.”